I heard that on a Guinness commercial once — but it rings true for the Rowdies as well.
It had been nearly a month since the Rowdies took the field at Al Lang, with their last victory having taken place May 19. A string of tough results plagued the team on the road, but that didn’t deter them on their return home. Last night, following a two-hour rain delay, patience paid off and the Rowdies beat FC Cincinnati, 2-0.
Alex Morrell was behind both goals. A quick one-two pass between him and goal scorer Martin Paterson saw the first. He continued his stand-out performance by creating the second goal, scored by Joe Cole, who cleaned up a rebound from Morrell after the youngest player on the team took on, and beat, three Cincinatti defenders. (Morrell would have scored on of his own, too, if it weren’t for the goalpost.)
“[Tonight] was very important personally and for the team,” said Morrell, one of the mold-breaking three forwards placed in the lineup by coach Stuart Campbell. “We needed a little spark and I believe I brought what I could to the table and I gave everything I could, so the moment was great … My dad was here and I saw him in the stands. It was nice. I won’t just sit here and soak in it because we have more games coming up. We have the rest of the season and we have to get to the top of the table. It was a good game, but we have to move on.
“Every game I’m going to bring that,” Morrell said. “And the coaches influence it. It just feeds me”
Stuart Campbell knew the importance of this match, having gone on a seven-match bender that resulted in four draws and two losses, for those counting. Cincinnati was also coming off possibly its biggest win in the club’s short history, defeating the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer in the U.S. Open Cup.
Campbell had some time on the road to tinker with lineups and finally found a formation that worked — adding three forwards — which resulted in two first-half goals.
“It’s something we planned,” Cambell said about the new formation. “We tried a different formation last week and it worked pretty well for 70 minutes and in some games. We played really well. I thought we could have and probably should have scored more. It was a real pleasing performance.”
Campbell also stated the team kept calm during the rough road streak, but was pleased to return home.
“Can’t over-emphasize how difficult it is at certain times going on the road for the amount of time we did,” Campbell said. “The travel, the different environments and pitches, it’s been a tough stretch for us. It’s hard, but there’s no panic in the locker room.”
An estimated 6,200 fans attended the Thursday night match, but not everyone was brave and patient enough to ride out the summer storm that left the stadium concourse a shoulder-to-shoulder human stink sauna. Sweaty fans were able to retake their seats to restart the second half at roughly 10:45 p.m., which must have been past the bedtime of post-match musicians Kool and the Gang.
The 1970s funk machine was slated to play a post-game concert, but was unable to take the stage due to time constraints. Fans may have been disappointed, but will most likely hear “Celebrate” and “Get Down on it” the next time they’re on a wedding dance floor with a DJ.
The Rowdies are on the road again next Thursday, but only have to travel up I-4 — they're facing the Orlando City B team at the city's new stadium. Rowdies will be back home July 22.
This article appears in Jul 6-13, 2017.